No reports of defence sector networks being attacked by cyber hackers: Government

The government on Friday said in Lok Sabha that there are no reports of defence sector networks being attacked by cyber hackers and foreign intelligence agencies.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the government has taken a number of steps to protect confidential information pertaining to the defence sector from cyber attack.

"There are no reports of defence sector networks being attacked by cyber hackers and foreign intelligence agencies.

"However, cyber attacks are faced by Internet connected personal computers and these relate to unauthorised data access, denial of service, compromise of logic credentials," he said during Question Hour.

He was replying to a query on whether reports of defence networks being continuously attacked by cyber hackers and foreign intelligence agencies have come to the notice of the government.

"To protect important and confidential data from cyber attack, the operational networks of the Armed Forces are air gapped from Internet.

"Further, Defence Services have established Cyber Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) to prevent and react to cyber attacks," Parrikar said.

The Minister also said that safeguards have been instituted in the form of audits and physical checks.

"Policies, guidelines and procedures are laid down and cyber security advisories are issued from time to time," he noted.